Sunday, 18 August 2013

Sour cream cake with butter glaze

I leave home for work quite early in the morning and – odd though
this is to say in August – the air has had a distinctly Autumnal smell the last
few mornings; that unmistakable yet hard to describe wet, burnt leaf
smell. I don’t mind this at all – Spring
and Autumn are by far preferable to Summer and Winter, but it did make me
hanker after a comforting no-frills sponge cake. The sort of cake you need to pair with a big
mug of tea. This is the cake!

I don’t use my ‘fancy’ cake pans as often as I should,
tending to automatically reach for my 20cm round springform tin. But a plain cake benefits from the jazziness
a fancy pan can provide. This is a Wilton
pan – I think it’s from the Dimensions range.
I like how every slice of bundt cake looks like a piece of abstract art!

This cake has a dense sponge texture – tiny air bubbles and
a small crumb:

The butter glaze is what elevates it to something very
special. Part of the glaze sinks into
the cake, while the rest sits on top giving a sticky crunch not dissimilar to a lemon
drizzle cake.

If this cake were a time of the week it would be 5pm on a Sunday
when all cooking and chores are done and you’re lazing about waiting for Antiques
Roadshow or Countryfile to come on the television!

Spray a 2.5litre (10 cup) bundt pan with cake release
spray. Mine was a Wilton Dimensions pan,
but any equivalent sized bundt will work.
If you don’t have a bundt tin of this size, a 900g (2lb) loaf tin and a
450g (1lb) loaf tin will do the job!
That’s two cakes from one mix – although perhaps reduce the cooking time
to maybe 30 minutes.

Start by beating together the butter and sugar. Take time over this and beat until it is
pale, light and fluffy.

Beat in the vanilla.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding some of the flour if
it looks like it might curdle.

Beat in half the flour.

Beat in half the sour cream.

Beat in the remaining flour, along with the baking powder
and salt.

Beat in the remaining sour cream.

Spoon the mix into the prepared tin and bake for
approximately 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out
clean.

Leave to cool for an hour in the tin, before turning out
onto a wire cooling rack.

Now make the butter glaze: place all the ingredients in a
saucepan and heat until the butter has melted.
Stir frequently.

Bring to the boil and let boil for about a minute before
reducing the heat to a simmer for about five minutes – this is to the thicken
the glaze. If it isn’t thicker at this
time (you’re aiming for runny honey type texture) simmer for another few
minutes - it’s not an exact thing.

Remove from the heat and brush half the glaze over the cake –
this will let the sponge absorb it.

I completely agree with all the points you've made in this post, particularly the one about pairing cake with a big mug of tea. Tea and cake is a match made in heaven and this one looks wonderful, not to mention the tin =)

It looks so goo, I could almost taste it when I looked at the cut slice. I have to say although I did all my housework, I am looking around at the devastation of my living room. Books, cars, cuddly toys. *Sigh* No relaxing for me yet!

I know what you mean about the Autumn smell. I smelled it at the end of July when we were camping! It's actualy one of my favourite smells, along with the smell of proper tomatoes - and the smell of cake baking of course!

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So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

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I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
I spend far too much time watching Spongebob Squarepants and would love to try a Krabby Patty...I know, I know - it's not real.